Before the Dawn Heals Us

Before the Dawn Heals Us-M83

Released: Jan. 25, 2005

Mute Records (US)

French band, M83, creates crazy cinematic landscapes for this album.  The songs are grandiose, broad and, as one reviewer put it so aptly "baroque".  Gold gilt is all over this puppy, my friends.  It's a pretty great record to listen to, even when it seems to be a giant cacophony of instruments and voices.  Lay back, close your eyes and let the movie begin...

For Before the Dawn Heals Us, M83 became a band of one, Anthony Gonzalez.  He recruits a female singer, an actress and a host of celestial voices for back up.  The sounds sweep, burst, lull and urge you along.  This is electronica, and there are live drums and I'm pretty sure I hear some guitars in there, too.  Though I wouldn't classify this as a concept album, I definitely listen to it like a story; it has an arc--really feels like there is a beginning, middle and end, complete with climax and denouement.  It can be thrilling at times, such as when "Don't Save Us From the Flames" lunges at your ears, and creepy/exciting during "Car Chase Terror"--here, the text is read by the actress (Kate Moran, I don't know who she is but what a gig, huh?), I presume, and the fear in her voice has the ability to muster an unease in this listener.  I think the text is written by the brother of Gonzalez, or so I read.  Anyway, maybe the one song that kind of grates is "Can't Stop" with it's repetitive lyrics, "I can't stop.  I can't stop, yeah.", over and over and synthesizers that are almost as repetitive.  It's not horrible, by any means.  This is not a perfect album.  It's good.  I enjoy listening to it.  It wouldn't accompany me onto the proverbial desert island.

"I Guess I'm Floating" incorporates a pretty, light sound accompanied by the voices of children laughing and playing.  What is it about that sound, echoey and distant, that makes one nostalgic?  This song might be my favorite, or one of them, anyway.  I do really like the previously mentioned "Don't Save Us From the Flames".  Oh, yeah.  "Safe" is terrific because it begins with a piano, a real one, and remains grounded through that instrument.  Gonzalez's airy singing floats in and around and is joined by a synthesizer (or keyboard.  I can't tell the difference, I'm sorry to say.)  Even when the synth takes over the piano, volume-wise, the bass notes of the piano continue to keep the song tethered to the realm in which it started.  Lovely. Continuing with my cinematic theme, I'm keen on how "A Guitar and a Heart" acts as the song that hits right after the climax, letting us know that things are about to wrap up.  We're not through, yet, but soon.  The final track, "Lower Your Eyes to Die with the Sun" is the synthesis of the entire album.  Elements from all that came before find themselves in this nearly 11 minute song and bring things to a close.  

I've heard really good things about the latest album, Saturdays=Youth, and even heard a song, or two, on the radio.  (I adore the cover and the homage to John Hughes' teen flicks.)  I'd like to get that and we'll just have to wait until the summer penny pinching is over.